Is Aaron Boone To Blame For The Yankees’ World Series Deficit?

The 2024 World Series shifts to the Bronx this week and the New York Yankees find themselves in an early 0-2 hole to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

While there have been multiple aspects of this series where you can point the finger as to why the Yankees find themselves in the place they’re in, there’s one consistent aspect that seems to stand out more than others.

In both Games 1 and 2, Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone has made some questionable managerial decisions than have had significant ramifications on both results.

From surprising choices in relievers, to questionable intentional walk calls, to skeptical decisions to leave certain arms in the game, Boone’s decision-making in the dugout has unfortunately drawn a variety of criticism.

So as we enter the heart of the this year’s Fall Classic, the question has to be asked; are Boone’s managerial missteps the reason the Yankees have their backs against the wall?

Game 1

Nestor Cortes over Tim Hill in the 10th inning

New York has numerous relief arms at their disposal that have proven their worth when it comes to facing tough parts of opposing lineups or working out of difficult jams.

So when two left-handed hitters in Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman were due up in the bottom of the 10th, and the usual top four backend arms in Luke Weaver, Tommy Kahnle, Clay Holmes and Jake Cousins had already been used, bringing in the lefty specialist in Tim Hill seemed like a logical decision.

But Boone instead opted for one of his southpaw starting arms in Nestor Cortes to face the Dodgers trio of MVPs.

And in just two pitches that decision resulted in an all-time postseason moment when Freddie Freeman belted a walk-off grand slam to end Game 1.

From just a statistical standpoint their were certainly red flags surrounding this decision.

While Cortes may have a lower AVG against vs. lefties in 2024 when compared to Hill (.204 to .273 respectively), there is a stark contrast in batted ball data that favors Hill.

Despite not being the greatest pitcher in the world when it comes to hard-hit rates, Hill certainly has a noticeable advantage over Cortes.

And there’s significant differences in barrel rate, groundball rate and average exit velocity between the two, heavily favoring Hill in 2024, including 100th percentile postings in both barrel and groundball rates.

Hill is tailor-made for inducing weak groundballs to left handed hitters, which would have been ideal when facing two of the league’s premier hard-hitting left-handed bats.

And putting the statistics aside, Hill is a fully healthy reliever who’s been in scenarios like the 10th inning of this game presented.

His counterpart in Cortes made just a single relief appearance in 2024 and hadn’t pitched since Sept. 18 due to injury, so inserting him in an unfamiliar scenario for his first game action in over a month was certainly a difficult choice to fathom.

Intentionally Walking Mookie Betts for Freddie Freeman

While the 10th inning intentional walking of Mookie Betts was not as difficult of a decision for people to wrap their head around considering it set up a left-on-left matchup, there’s something about intentionally walking an MVP for another MVP that raises plenty of “what-ifs”.

It’s important to note that this isn’t a choice that was exclusively made by Boone, as his fellow skipper in the opposing dugout, Dave Roberts, also made a similar move when he intentionally walked Juan Soto in favor of facing Aaron Judge, he just didn’t face the consequences that Boone did.

Now there would undoubtedly be questions that loomed if Boone hadn’t opted to walk Betts and have Cortes face the righty with two outs in extras.

But I’d argue that the “what ifs” are easier to digest if issues happen when the lineup is treated as it as it was presented, rather than have issues occur after it’s been manipulated like it had in Game 1, supposedly in your favor.

If the Yankees were to lose at the hands of Betts, it seems a far easier explanation. They would’ve just gotten beat by a strong Dodger lineup. But that intentional walk decision was supposed to make things more in New York’s favor and suddenly they now face the reality of losing to the matchup that they made happen.

Game 2

Leaving Carlos Rodón in the 3rd Inning of Game 2

It all went downhill for the Yankees in Game 2 after back-to-back home runs from Teoscar Hernández and Freeman and saw a 1-1 ball game quickly turn into a 4-1 deficit.

Now giving up homers to a pair of all-stars is hardly on Boone, as many have fallen victim to the power of Hernández and Freeman in the past. The question is whether Carlos Rodón was fit to be pitching in those moments.

It was no secret that Rodón was battling finger issues, with blood noticeably being wiped on his pants as he made an effort to push through his ailment.

But a lack of action from Boone when his starter was struggling through a popped blister is a key (if no the key) factor into why the home runs occurred in the first place.

Blisters are hard for any pitcher to push through, even the best of days in the best of scenarios, let alone when you have the star-studded Dodgers lineup in front of you.

So to have your pitcher try and make adjustments on the fly in order to work around a nagging injury, when margins are so thin and mistakes are magnified that much more with the stakes as high as they can get, is a skeptical decision to say the least.

And there’s no denying it cost them dearly, as the three-run inning proved to be the difference in a two-run loss.

It’s Unfair to Say That Boone is Entirely to Blame

While there’s no arguing that Boone’s decisions greatly contributed to the Yankees’ opening two losses in the World Series, there’s also no denying that other factors have played their fair share in the struggles.

Judge, the presumptive AL MVP this season, has had a rougher postseason so far in 2024, but has looked particularly overmatched this series, going just 1-for-9 with six strikeouts in the first two games.

And the Yankees lineup as whole managed just one hit through the first eight innings of Game 2.

But at the end of the day, all of Aaron Boone’s questionable managerial choices have directly impacted the outcome of these first two games.

So while the Yankees must improve in order to have shot against this high flying Dodgers roster, so must their manager, or this series could be over just a quickly as it started.